True. That might be the smartest thing to do -- but when have people with a thirst for power done the smart thing over the one that will bring them closer to their goal, however foolish or dangerous it is?

[ Ciri shrugs, shaking her head and peering into her cup. It refills itself, now that she's figure out how to make things easily in the Horizon, and because she's too comfortable in her seat to get up for another bottle. ]

You laugh, but I'd advise you to be on alert no matter how welcoming your hosts seem. Who's to say when it might be politically convenient for them to give you up? Or when Thorne will lose patience with their neutrality?

I'm not pretending to be familiar with the nuances of this continent's politics, but I've lived through wars long enough to know that plenty of kings and high mages and their ilk would rather make your killer bear dance than do 'the smartest thing' even if it means to devour their own towns.